http://www.chron.com/CDA/umstory.mpl/world/3372928 Sept. 28, 2005, 1:18AM Stealthy squid filmed in wild Team offers first glimpse of giant in its natural habitat New York Times Reuters This handout photograph by the Royal Society shows the first photographs of a live giant squid in its natural environment, taken by Japanese scientists in the Pacific Ocean. For decades, scientists and sea explorers have mounted costly expeditions to hunt down and photograph the giant squid, a legendary monster with eyes the size of dinner plates and a nightmarish tangle of tentacles lined with sucker pads. The goal has been to learn more about a bizarre creature of no little fame — Jules Verne's attacked a submarine and Peter Benchley's ate children — that in real life has stubbornly refused to give up its secrets. While giant squid have been snagged in fishing nets and dead or dying ones have washed ashore, expeditions have repeatedly failed to photograph one living in its natural habitat, the inky depths of the sea. But today two Japanese scientists, Tsunemi Kubodera and Kyoichi Mori, report in a leading British biological journal that they have made the world's first observations of a giant squid in the wild. Working about 600 miles south of Tokyo off the Bonin Islands, known in Japan as the Ogasawara Islands, they managed to photograph the creature using a robotic camera at a depth of 3,000 feet. An 'active predator' During a struggle that lasted more than four hours, the 26-foot-long animal was captured when it took small squid and mashed shrimps that were proffered, then fought until it broke free, leaving behind an 18-foot length of tentacle. The giant squid, the researchers conclude, "appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongate feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey." They report that the tentacles apparently can coil into a ball, much as a python envelops its victims. The Japanese researchers are reporting their find today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the B standing for the biological sciences. The Royal Society, based in London, is the world's oldest scientific organization. Long-awaited discovery Scientists say the discovery is a long-awaited breakthrough. "This has been a mystery for a thousand years," said Richard Ellis, author of Monsters of the Sea. "Nobody knew what they looked like in the wild. We only saw them dead. These images will open the door to more detailed study of their life." Squid hunters themselves are agog, and some perhaps a bit jealous. RESOURCES Graphic: The Squid "Wow!" said Emory Kristof, a photographer for National Geographic who twice ventured to New Zealand in hopes of capturing giant squid on film. "It's always been presumptuous to say you're hunting the giant squid when we know so little. It's great that they got it." On Sept. 30 last year, a squid attacked the lowest bait on a rig that was positioned about 1,000 feet above the sea floor. Giant squid have eight short arms and two long tentacles. During the attack, the squid wrapped its two long tentacles like a ball around the bait, the researchers report. It was often out of camera range. After four hours and 13 minutes of struggle, the animal tore away, leaving the tentacle behind.
Yeah i saw this on the news. i think nessie and Bigfoot are far behind, because those two do not exist, and the giant squid does the funny thing was that this one was probably a small one.
I don't believe in Nessie or Bigfoot,but I do believe in the "Yeti" aka Abominable Snowman. I have traveled extensively in that region,and talked to many of the local villagers and sherpas. The reason, I believe in Yeti, is not just based upon word of mouth, but on more logic than the other two. The areas of the Great Himalayas is so vast, they will never be able to have a sufficient cartography of that area. I don't believe the Yeti is some superior life force, but I believe its some sort of super bear that cannot be fathomable.
I can believe there are many animals that we do not know. Especiallly in the deep ocean, and in tropical rainforrests like the amazon. the himalayas is also a area where new animals can life. I'm not sure about something of a yetti. A big bear can be mistaken for something like a yetti. I'm not sure if there is a new species of very big mammal living in the himalaya's, but you never know. Mr. Brightside where have you been in the himalaya's?
I originally went to northern Kashmir (Srinigar) region not for sight seeing but for business a while back. Since then, I've fallen in love with that area of the world. I've spent alot of time in the wilderness of Anapurna. Katmandu is generally our starting point to reach Anapurna. Surprisingly, I've never been to the so called famous sites of K2 or Everest,and really have no desire to. I'll leave that to the crazy Westerners.
That is one big squid! This photo released by Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum, an 8-meter (26-foot)-long Architeuthis attacks a prey hung by a white rope, left, at 900 meters (yards) deep off the coast of Japan's Bonin islands, 1,000 kilometers (670 miles) south of Tokyo, in the fall of 2004. The camera was operated by remote control. (AP Photo/HO, National Science Museum) (AP)
Somebody needs to kill the thing and turn it into calimari. That thing is so damn big you could feed Sicily for a month on it.
Calamari = rubber bands. I actually hear that squids are the most intelligent of all the invertebrates. Not sure exactly how intelligent that is, though.
